Latvia University of Agriculture - Latvijas Lauksaimniecības ...

V. Jansons, R. Sudārs Dimensions of Agri-Environmental Research in the Department ofEnvironmental Engineering and Water Managementreduce pollution to the Baltic Sea and restore its good ecological status (HELCOM BalticSea Action Plan, 2007). The key component is a plan to reduce nutrient loads and wayshow to allocate these to the countries in the region. The inland water bodies receivenitrogen and phosphorus emissions which are a net result of both diffuse and pointsource pollution. In the assessment of non-point agricultural pollution, it is crucial tobe able to control nutrient emissions and exclude other loads, i.e., from point sources:large livestock farms and wastewater from urban areas. HELCOM recall (HELCOM BalticSea Action Plan, 2007) that countries should apply harmonised principles and monitoringmethods for quantifying non-point losses throughout the sea catchment area in orderto obtain comparable and reliable estimates on the waterborne inputs from both pointsources and non-point sources entering into the Baltic Sea. In addition, climate changecalls for a more effective environmental policy to protect the water resources of theBaltic Sea.The net effect of agricultural loading to the Baltic Sea cannot be easily predictedwithout using nutrient leaching models in combination with run-off models(Ziverts, Jauja, 1999) and river transport models. The predictive capacity to simulateriverine nutrient fluxes as a function of changes in human activities is facilitated by thenested modelling approach addressing nutrient fluxes from farm scale over regionalscale addressing type river basins with characteristic land use patterns in the variousBaltic Sea water districts up to the basin wide scale. Due to a substantial share of theanthropogenic phosphorus and nitrogen load origins from agricultural land there is aneed for new innovative approaches in modelling to identify and implement the mostcost-effective countermeasures on a regional and local scale.Historical BackgroundAfter the collapse of the former political and economic system in 1990/1991, Latvialike the other Central and East European countries went through dramatic /changes inagricultural sector (Jansons, 1996; Stalnacke et al., 1999; Jansons et al., 2003; Vagstadet al., 2002) as well as in all /other sectors of economy. Higher education system andresearch programmes were transformed to meet the Western standards. In 1951 theDepartment of Land Reclamation of Latvia Agricultural Academy was founded. The mostimportant research fields of the Department before the 1990s were as follows:– subsurface drainage;– application of wastewater and slurry for irrigation;– irrigation scheduling;– subsurface drainage for irrigation.After the above mentioned changes in 1993 the Department of Land Reclamationwas reorganised into the Department of Environmental Management, and in 1995 –into the Department of Environmental Engineering and Water Management. Among themost urgent topics currently put to the scientists of the Department, we may list thefollowing:– monitoring and assessment of non-point source pollution from agriculture;– monitoring and assessment of area point source pollution (large animal farms) fromagriculture;– assessment of the measures to mitigate agricultural pollution to the coastal andmarine environment;– watershed modelling.International cooperation in research projects described in Table 1 was an importantfactor in institutional strengthening; research capacity building and providing opportunitysignificantly upgrade the technical capacities for agri-environmental research beingessential for the implementation of national and international commitments inenvironmental control undertaken by the government. As can be seen in the Table,the main cooperation partners of the Department in agri-environmental projects andresearch programmes were scientists from Sweden (Swedish University of AgriculturalSciences), Norway (Jordforsk/Bioforsk), and Denmark (Danish Agricultural AdvisoryCentre). Cooperation and transfer of knowledge and equipment enhanced the capacitiesof the Department to design and implement the water monitoring programmes sothat they were also suitable and attractive for research and educational purposes(Vagstad et al., 2001; Deelstra et al., 2004). Moreover, it was of great importance that amonitoring programme similar to the existing ones in the Nordic countries (e.g. Norway andSweden) was implemented and specifically aimed at assessing the impact of agriculture48 Latvia University of Agriculture – 70, 2009